Being based in the Birmingham area, I merely visit other places to have a ride around on their buses every so often, though Eastern Counties is so time consuming that my first visit was last year , during a family holiday for Mon-Fri. I didn’t visit Ipswich so can’t comment on that side of the operation !
Norwich seemed very good. A mostly modern fleet with plenty of smart 2011/12 B9TLs, either new to Games Transport or recent cascades from Leeds I believe, mostly in colour coded liveries. It seems to be a common trend that the most successful First operations these days are the ones moving away from the standard scheme (West of England, Kernow, Leeds and Glasgow now starting to) so it seems a good idea, though Konectbus were also using a few different smart liveries on their modern fleet of 2011-15 E400s, with some 2011 Scania Omnilinks, an array of Optare Tempos and some other older double deckers mixed in.
A batch of 2016 Wright Streetdecks were operating the pink line to a major Hospital I believe, a good sign to future car users, who could switch to the bus. The rest of the double deck operations on the city network were all Dennis Tridents and Volvo B7TLs with Plaxton President bodywork. Now as a fan of these, very nice, but it was good to see most of these were in updated liveries despite their age, a good move as they could be the buses that could drag the operations image down imo.
The other single deckers viewed in Norwich were a batch of Streetlites for the green line, and some Volvo B7Ls, some with heritage liveries that looked very smart. Overall a good city operation from what I could tell, compared to other places, a good mix between older and newer vehicles
Now for Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft Services - some of which operate into Norwich so I will start with these...
Routes X2/21/22 are the express routes to Lowestoft, taking a few different routes I understand. These were pretty much all the ‘AU58’ plate Volvo B9TLs which are well suited with higher backed seats, some leather. With a good livery rebrand, these services could be transformed with existing vehicles I would say. Nothing wrong with the existing vehicles, but Lowestoft was full of too much of regular First liveried Vehicles for my liking. Mixed in each day seemed to be 1 2012 Enviro 200, perfectly adequate with the same leather seats (+ I think they are six cylinder examples) (44531-3 for anyone in the know!), 1 2012 Volvo B9TL, which it was the only one at Lowestoft, and one rather heritage ‘W-DWX’ Volvo B7TL. Wouldn’t put that on there myself but I only saw one on it so no big deal.
Local services in Lowestoft were all Dennis Darts, Enviro 200s and Volvo B7TLs. These seemed to be mainly the older generation using these so I understnd little need for more modern vehicles. The Darts all seemed well presented though the Enviro 200s were observed broken down, didn’t sound healthy and I even saw one in debranded Ipswich charcoal fronted design. The 99 out to Southwold and Kessingland was like the Norwich routes, a mix of Volvo B9TLs, B7TLs, and one of them 2012 Enviro 200s. First have done some nice route maps that show all the places of interest in the area; route 99 (Coastal Clipper), really needs a new brand to highlight this imo, same goes for the 1/A from Lowestoft upto Martham, via Great Yarmouth, also Coastal Clipper.
Great Yarmouth was a two sided operation in terms of the vehicles operated. One side modern (4 2014 Streetlites, a batch of around 6-8 B9TLs from Leeds and the 5 2013 Enviro 400s employed on the X1. The other side was a big mix of vintage stock - 3 2002 Volvo B7Ls, 1 2001 Scania L94UB, ~10 2005/6 Dennis Darts, ~6 2002 Plaxton President B7TLs, ~10 elderly 2000/1 ALX400 Volvo B7TLs. Now I can understand that it is a seasonal destination so otherwise sees decreased use, though the reliance of old B7TLs seems all too common with First now. Some of these were totally clapped out and sounded on their last legs, though all fairly well presented in the standard livery. An effort does seem to have been made to at least keep some of these on the Bernard Matthews contract (none of the newest stock) that I observed, for that is why some were recently acquired from Manchester, though still plenty on normal services. Not a good image outside James Paget Hospital, a major destination, though at least there were the newer stock mixed in going around here too. Overall, not a bad network of routes though more newer buses are going to be required soon! I believe a T reg Trident has recently joined for that contract too, very good from an enthusiast to still have these on the road!
By far the best operation is the trunk X1/11 routes, with a plentiful supply of Enviro 400s and various Volvo B9TLs being employed, the oldest 2008 ex Greenline ones I think. The route is rumoured to be getting an upgrade this year in the Peterborough leg, and if so this could release the others for use on the X1 and associated X11. That would make a big impact with the B9TLs used then available for the other routes, and hopefully withdrawal of the W plates could take place! The dedicated livery definitely made a big difference for me, and that is what this operation needs, along with some more modern vehicles to replace the oldest B7TLs. The route suffered some major reliability issues but regular passengers didn’t seem too bothered at Lowestoft, probably white common and they may undertsnd the issues a longbroite faces.
Otherwise, not a bad operation, I have certainly seen worse and with some rebranding, it would certainly compliment the smart Norwich network. From an enthusiast POV, definitely worth a few days riding around on, with something for everyone, I certainly enjoyed the E400s on the X1!
Hope this long message is of interest, even if I have rambled on about the specific types used!
